Actor performance of story events.
This employee shared how their employer hosted an appreciation lunch, paid for by the company—of course. Who would expect otherwise? However, this employee left to attend a client call that was scheduled by their manager. Afterward, they, along with 2 of their coworkers who had also not attended the lunch, received a demand for $18 to cover the cost of their missed meals. When one coworker asked HR to identify the written policy supporting this decision (there wasn't one), HR was silent. It wouldn't have mattered if there was a policy, because in what world does that make sense? The absurdity of the entire situation is highlighted by the fact that the lunch was supposed to be a morale-building employee appreciation event. Now suddenly the cost of that “appreciation” was being thrust upon the employees simply because the employer wasn't happy about their lack of attendance.
To make matters worse, at least in the case of the employee who shared this story, we know that they didn't attend because of existing work obligations. It's not like they elected to skip. They literally had an engagement with a client, scheduled by their manager, during the time of lunch. Just overall, a bizarre and misplaced reaction from the employer on the whole.
My company is charging us for the free employee appreciation lunch
The appreciation lunch was scheduled at the end of the week 2 weeks prior, and this past week employees found that surprise in their inbox: An email declaring those that didn't stay for the team-building after
Our office had an employee appreciation lunch last Friday. HR made a big deal about it being on the company and ordered food from a local restaurant.
Today we got an email saying anyone who didn't stay for the team-building session afterward has to pay $18 for their meal.
The lunch invitation hadn't even included the fact that there was a session afterward. The company had sort of "Trojan-horsed" it in there. So busy employees who hadn't budgeted the time were caught off guard.
The session wasn't mentioned in the original invite. I left after lunch because I had a client call, which my manager scheduled.
The $18 isn't even the issue. I just find it ridiculous that a company can turn a thank-you into something you owe them for.
This left the employee feeling put out rather than appreciated.
Other employees received the same bill that they did and asked HR about it with no response.
Three other people got the same email. One of them replied asking where this policy was written, and HR hasn't responded yet.
I think for these types of things it's important to remember that in order for the "appreciation" to feel genuine, it needs to be a truly no-strings-attached affair.
You can't just go ahead and "volun-told" employees into participating; you need to make it an experience that is actually engaging. Everyone is already aware that there is at the very least a social pressure to attend, and that not attending may possibly draw unnecessary attention. last thing you need to do is draw more attention to it.
Plus, when it comes to lunch breaks, things like an employee appreciation lunch at the office that take the employee's lunch break are quite literally on the employee's time. There needs to be some meaningful benefit to the employee giving up their lunch break. Like, say, paying for the food… and that's the low bar.
When short-sighted human resources efforts get in the way of actual work, even when there is a good intention behind them, then it starts to become an inconvenience. Especially when other cultural drives or recent changes in the company, like layoffs, have employees operating in a mode of fear where they feel they need to be as productive as possible in order to keep their jobs.
Calling something a team-building activity doesn't automatically make it so. I think, all too often, these types of exercises become more about checking off boxes in a list. Historically, I would have said a list someone read in a book or got from social media, but now I think it's far more likely they were gotten from ChatGPT when someone prompted “how to improve employee morale.
Saying that you appreciate something doesn't mean that the message lands. As with so many things in life, "It's by your actions, not your words." Words are empty when they aren't backed up by actual intention and action. But actions are also empty when they aren't supported by genuine thought and feeling.
